Split
by selena1234
Summary: Satan managed to be there, the night that Yuri died. While there, he made a deal with Shiro. He would transfer Yukio's powers to Rin, and trap Rin's powers. He went back to get Rin nearing their forth birthday. Yukio promised then that he would destroy his brother. After all, his brother is a monster. Meanwhile, Rin wants nothing more than to be friends with Yukio again. Nice!Satan
1. It was a cold, rainy night

**I know I should be updating Essentially Immortal, but... meh.**

**XxXxX**

It was a cold, snowy night. Shiro was walking with Mephisto to find Yuri. The snowmen lead them to the cave, and they entered warily. She was lying there with her - her _sons._ Twins.

Shiro approached them, pulling out his gun.

"Wait." Mephisto said behind him. However, it was not Mephisto's voice that spoke. Shiro turned to see Mephisto engulfed in blue flames. Satan.

"Don't hurt them. Please." Satan said. Mephisto's body walked up to Yuri, who smiled. "I don't want my sons hurt. Please, Shiro, hear me out."

Shiro did not lower his gun, but he did consider it. Satan wasn't hurting him - he seemed genuinely concerned for his sons and Yuri. "Go on." He said.

Satan looked relieved. "You have the Kurikara sword. Good. Both sons have the power - even if only one shows it for now." He brushed Rin's little tuft of hair. "I can transfer the power from the normal one - Yukio - so that only Rin has the full power. You can take Yukio and raise him normally. I will then take Rin's power and lock it in the sword for now. I will come on their forth birthday to take Rin to Gehenna." He glanced up at Shiro. "He'll be out of your hair. Please - I just want a keepsake of Yuri." By this point, a tear - a regular, non-blood one - was falling from Mephisto's face.

"Why should I trust you?" Shiro said, the gun lowering slightly. He seemed genuinely concerned - that was something Shiro had never before thought that he would attribute to the Lord of Gehenna. _Concern. Care._ Yet here it was, plain as day.

"You're right - you shouldn't trust me." He laughed a little bit. "I am a demon - and not just any demon. You've never been a father, so I suppose you wouldn't understand. I'm giving you a chance to be one, while I get to raise a son myself." He smiled. "This body - Mephisto - he's my son, too. As is his younger brother Amaimon. I wasn't able to raise them. Their mother wouldn't let me see them until they were both fifty."

Shiro lowered his gun. "Fine. Do it quickly, and then leave." Why was he agreeing to this?

Satan smiled at Shiro without showing teeth, and he then transfered Yukio's powers to Rin. The room was blinded with blue while the rest of Rin's powers were locked inside of Kurikara.

"I will see you again in four years time, Shiro." Satan gave the Exorcist a two-fingered salute before leaving his son's body. Mephisto fell to the ground and coughed out blood.

"It's at times like this that I hate daddy dearest." He said, laughing.

XxXxX

Rin was sitting by the window, watching the first early snowfall of the year. It was peaceful - he had never liked the snow. Yukio did, however, so he tolerated it.

Rin always knew that he was different. He keeps getting into fights, and he has incredible strength.

He wasn't blind, either. He had heard Shiro talk to Yukio about the 'black bugs'. He knew they were demons - he knew that he wasn't supposed to be able to see them.

If he couldn't see them, then what are those little black things floating about the street lamp across the street?

Oh, that's right.

They're demons.

Rin picked his head off of the back of the couch in surprise - the demons had dispersed, and the light went out.

Rin curiously leaned closer to the window.

"Rin, what is it?" Shiro asked behind him.

The light turned back on - there was a figure below it. He was tall, wearing a dark red cloak. On his head was a crown of blue flames. As he approached closer to the Monestary, Rin could see his dark red eyes and his midnight blue hair. There was a sort of package strapped to him.

"Shiro, there's someone outside." Rin said. Shiro frowned. He could never get the young demon to call him 'father'. He wasn't exactly sure why, either, considering Yukio always said it.

"I'll go see who it is." He said, getting up from the table to open the door. However, as soon as he reached it, it opened on its own.

Shiro had only to glance at the blue crown in order to tell that it was Satan.

The other exorcists at the table hastily got up and grabbed weapons.

"I suppose you're early." Shiro said, stepping aside.

"I had to be. I didn't trust you to tell him of their heritage before their birthday. Also, the portal is open nearby for only three hours." The stranger said before stepping inside. "Impressive wards, by the way."

"Thanks." Shiro said, his voice hard and dry.

He looked around before settling his eyes on Rin. "You have your mother's eyes, Rin." The man said. A tiny smidgen of distrust welled up inside Rin. Who the hell is this guy? How did he know Rin's mother when Shiro wouldn't say a word about her?

Rin stood from the couch and approached the man. "Who're you?" He asked.

"Rin! Don't be rude!" Shiro said. "This is your real father - yours and Yukio's."

"You're a demon." He stated. Both men looked shocked. "I can see them too, Shiro. I knew what they were, even before you told Yukio."

"How?" The man asked. "I locked your powers up. This shouldn't-" He glanced to Shiro in shock.

Rin rolled his eyes and smiled. "Don't be so serious. Are you here to take me home?"

"Yes, Rin, he is." Shiro said after a moment. So willing to accept it. Rin smiled even wider, whatever distrust he had gone completely.

"Well cool. Lemme go pack and say goodbye to Yukio. Will I see him again?" He asked.

"Some day." The man replied.

Rin rushed upstairs as if it were Christmas and packed up everything that was important.

"Where are you going, Rin?" Yukio asked, confusion on his face. Shiro hadn't said anything about them going on a trip so... what?

"Home! Daddy came to take me to his home." Rin said, a large smile on his face.

"Home? Rin, this is home." Yukio replied, standing up. He walked over to Rin.

"No, it's not really. You see how dissapointed Shiro gets whenever I fight. He doesn't think of me as his son."

"Maybe that's because you never thought of him as your father." Yukio said. He couldn't be serious, could he?

Rin finished shoving items in his bag before turning to Yukio. "In the suitcase." He said.

"What!?" Yukio asked, flabberghasted.

"I'm taking everything important. This means you, too!" Rin crossed his arms.

"Rin, no. I'm not leaving!" Yukio said, backing away from his twin. He was serious! He was _one hundred percent _serious. Some guy claiming to be their real father shows up and Rin just _accepts it_?!

A few moments of silence passed between the brothers. "Fine." Rin said at last, his voice shaky. "Fine! I'll come back and visit some day. Whatever." Rin zipped his bag closed before heading to the door.

"Rin!" Yukio said once Rin's hand hit the door. "Don't leave me." He said, his voice thick with tears. "I... I don't want you to leave me."

Rin stayed at the door for a few moments before glancing at Yukio. "I have to know, Yukio." He said this quietly. "He's our father, Yukio. I.. I can't live here like this." Blue flames errupted on his hand. Yukio backed up another step in fear. "I can't... I can't control whatever... _this_ is. I'd just get in trouble - I'd be a failure in everything. I'd _hurt_ someone, Yukio. He has this power, too. He knows how to control it - he'd _teach_ me." Rin turned fully to his brother, smiling with teeth. "I'll see you again some day, Yukio. I promise." With this, Rin turned to leave.

When he got downstairs, he could feel the tension in the air.

"I'm ready to go, Father." He said to the man. "Bye, Shiro."

"Bye, Rin." Shiro said, watching as his other son left with a monster. "Perhaps we'll meet again some day."

XxXxX

**Good? Bad?**


	2. when I saw my brother again

**So, yeah. Thank you to all seven who reviewed.**  
**XxXxX**

"Where are we going?" Rin asked the man once they were off of the Monestary's land. "And I still don't know your name."

Satan glanced down at his son and smiled. "My name is Satan," He said, reaching his hand down. The young child reached up and grabbed his father's hand. The feeling of the little hand in his made him happier than he'd ever been; this was his son - his son with Yuri. He could raise this child as he wanted.

Is the King of all Demons even suitable for fatherhood? He hadn't been able to raise Mephisto and Amaimon - their mother didn't trust him. Not that he blamed her, but she could have at least given into his pleading and let him see them while they were growing up.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the memories of his lonely days, Satan lead the two of them to the alley where the Portal had been set up. He was able to come in his 'human' form this year, something that he had planned on. There are certain criteria that have to pass for him to be able to pass in his human form; It has to be Halloween, and it has to be snowing. Why those two, he didn't know.

"Daddy?" Rin asked, looking up at the tall man. "Does it snow where we're going?"

Satan looked back down at Rin and smiled again. "It does not, Rin, but we can figure out how to make some."

"Yaaay!" Rin said, his face splitting into a Cheshire grin.

"Here's what I need you to do, Rin." Satan said, letting go of Rin's hand. "I need you to get into the portal. Here - give me your bag." Rin did as he was told and stepped onto the portal.

"Do I really have to stand in this?" Rin asked, poking the weird heads with his foot. One popped like a balloon and Rin recoiled in disgust.

Satan sighed. "Yes, Rin, you have to. I know it's not the most ideal form of travel, but it's neccessary. Just stand in the center and you'll slowly sink. It doesn't feel gross, really, it just tickles." Rin glanced skeptically at Satan before stepping on the heads. He waded his way to the center, all the while thinking, _Gross. Gross, Gross, Heads, Gross, EWW!_

Once he got to the center, he stood still. Rin wasn't sure anything was happening, until he stared off at a dumpster and noticed that he _was_ slowly sinking. _Gross._

Satan got in once Rin had stopped. With the Kurikara sword strapped to his back and the child's suitcase in his right hand, Satan rested his free hand on the child's head and said something in Latin.

Immediately, they were sucked up into the portal and spat out on the other side.

The first thing Rin noticed was all of the _red_. The sky was red, the ground was red, his clothes were tinted red, and the buildings surrounding him were red.

Satan helped Rin up from the ground after they had been spat out of the portal floating in the sky. Once Rin was standing and looking around, Satan closed the portal.

"Is there anything colored in this place? Something... oh, I don't know... Green, or Yellow, or something other than Red?"

Satan stared at Rin. "Other than Red?"

"Yeah." Rin said, unsure why the concept was so hard to grasp. "Something blue, other than the flames."

Satan reached up and played with the tip of his crown-flames. "I don't think so."

Rin sighed. "Lame."

Satan raised an eyebrow before reaching his hand down to Rin again. Quickly, without thought, Rin lifted his hand to the Demon King's.

As they walked, Rin took in everything he could about his surroundings. There were the little black bugs everywhere, but they seemed to be more like pets here. There were larger demons walking the streets as well as medium-sized ones. Many stared at the two walking.

"Daddy, why are they staring?" Rin asked, looking up to Satan.

"Well, I am quite the big-shot here, Rin. It's rare that I leave my castle." Satan replied, waving to one of the demons walking by.

"Castle?" Rin asked, looking around. The whole realm, he noticed, seemed to be designed in a sort of spiral fashion. He could look up and notice several layers above where they were, each with a small fence to keep 'pedestrians' from falling over the edge. It was quite the drop from one layer to the next. Up at the very, _very_ top was a large dragon towering over the realm.

"It's fake, the Dragon." Satan said, having followed the child's line of sight. "Just a building. We'll walk to the center area of this level and grab the Portal there. I think we're on level six-" Satan paused in his dialouge and counted softly under his breath. He nodded his head at each number. "Level seven, my mistake. The Dragon is Level One, and each below that is a number more. There are six levels visible from here, see?" He waited for Rin to nod before he continued. "So that's Six levels and One dragon. We're on level Seven."

Rin smiled. "That's cool! How many levels are there?"

Satan's eyes went wide. "Um?" He said, unsure. "Well, I think there's... uh... seven... then thirteen below... other isles... bridge... twenty six...?" Satan trailed off, mumbling to himself confusedly.

_Is he serious?_ Rin wondered, watching as Satan ranted to himself. _He's the king of this realm, and he himself doesn't know how large it is?_

"Three thousand, four hundred and sixty-seven levels!" He said after a while. "Not to mention thirty-seven smaller isles scattered about Gehenna." He smiled to himself, proud to have figured it out. His smile then fell, as his face screwed up in concentration. "At least, I think so. I might have missed a few..."

"I get it, I get it!" Rin said, tired of listening to him. "You don't know." Rin rolled his eyes and laughed. Conversation then paused as they reached the little odd elevator thing in the wall.

Rin traced the rock around the elevator with his finger. _Even the rock here is red. How lame!_

Satan pulled Rin into the small elevator. He then spoke something in a language that was most definately not latin.

"What language is that?" Rin asked, once the Elevator started moving.

Satan smiled, and replied only once the Elevator had stopped. It was a very quick elevator.

They stepped out into a lounge-like area with a large glass pane overlooking several levels. Rin could see some bridges leaving the area off to who-knows-where. Rin assumed they lead to the other isles that he had heard Satan speak of during his to-self-monolouge.

"It was Demonic," Satan said, once the Kurikara sword was set down and the child's suitcase was set aside. He sat down heavily on one of the couches in the room and leaned back. "More commonly called Abyssal. The elevators only respond to that. They won't do anything if you speak to it in anything other than that. I'll have to teach that, as well as Latin, to you. Plus you need to learn to read before we start on that, and you need to control your powers and -"

"Daddy! What's this?" Rin asked, having left the room as soon as Satan started ranting. Again.

Satan rubbed the bridge of his nose. _This will be a long month, getting him settled in, won't it?_

XxXxX

**So, yeah. Like it?**

**I tried to make it longer and more in-depth on request of someone who reviewed and said that I write too quickly. I do, I know I do. It's a chore to force myself to slow down, though!**

**Also, I tried to explain some things from last chapter that another reviewer was confused about. I knew this reviewer personally, so I answered them for her, but I figured I'd clarify for anyone else who wondered. **

**... Yeah.**

**I have a horrible habit of writing in Font Size 24 or so (and reading even larger) so what seems like alot of words is really very little. I'm also writing in Wordpad, so I can't exactly tell how many words I have. I usually write around 1,000 per chapter. It takes about an hour to write and it's a pretty decent size, if I say so myself...**

**Ugh, I'm such a hypocrite. I hate when people write short chapters, and look at me.**

**Also, I rant alot, Have you noticed yet?**


	3. His hair was longer than I remember

**So, yeah. I plan on updating today, but as I'm sure most of my readers have found out, what I 'plan' is usually not what happens. **

**XxXxX**

Satan sighed and got up off of the couch. "Come, Rin, we need to get you a room assigned."

Rin looked back from his position as he was reaching for a vial. "Assigned?" he asked, as his little hand hit the vial.

It toppled over and rolled off of the shelf. Satan quickly grabbed Rin off of the chair and set him down as the vial smashed on the floor.

"Don't touch things until I tell you what they are." He scolded, mentally hitting himself for not watching Rin more closely. "For example, you just broke a bottle of expired animal blood. The Goblins are attracted to it, and so-"

His speech was interrupted by a little round demon rolling through the open window.

Rin smiled widely and ran up to it.

He froze a foot away from it, and they stared at eachother. After a minute, some unspoken agreement passed between the two and the goblin jumped into the boy's waiting hands.

"It's so cute!" Rin said, hugging the demon.

Satan face-palmed.

_This will be a long couple of years._

XxXxX

Meanwhile, Yukio was back in Assia, doing... whatever it is Yukios do.

And Yukios like to argue.

"Father, please! Tell me! Do I have those... those... _those freakish powers_ as well?" He was standing across from Shiro, who was sitting in a chair in the living room. Several exorcists were scattered about the room, listening. They were as curious as Yukio was afraid. Afraid that the answer was _yes._

Shiro sighed and took a sip of his Sake.

"Yukio, sit down, and I will tell you a story..."

"NO!" Yukio shouted. "No! I want to know _now._ Am I like that freak who calls himself my brother? Am I in danger of becoming like _him?_"

Shiro stared at the boy for a moment before laughing.

The sound caused those in the room to jump.

"Leave it to you to grow a backbone after your brother leaves!"

"He's not my brother!" Yukio said. He started rubbing his arm as if ridding it of dirt subconciously. "He's nothing but a freak of nature that doesn't deserve to exist. No demon does."

Shiro's face grew somber, and he set his drink down. "Yukio, you are too young to start your training to become an Exorcist, if you wanted to, but I can give you some books on it, so you can decide what you want to do."

Yukio looked at Shiro with determination, and he nodded his head. "Anything to destroy that _thing._"

XxXxX

"THIS IS SO COOL!" Rin shouted, the sound echoing throughout the large cavern.

They had descended several levels. The inside of the castle was much like the outside in reverse.

The outer area was like a shell, hiding the inside. Like a plastic sand-castle maker; the plastic shell was the outer area and the inside where the sand goes is the inner area.

Each layer had a ringed platform for walking, with several doors here and there. There were bridges criss-crossing above a large lake that Rin assumed was some sort of hotspring, based on the steam coming off of it. It was very warm in the cavern, but not overly so.

"We have each level dedicated to certain activities. Most rooms go unused, considering that not many people live on the inside, and anything we need we can get either from Assia or the Outer Ridge. The levels go from bottom-to-top, which means that the lake is level one. I live on level eight if you need me at any time and I am not with you. I will assign to you level nine; this is four below where we are now. The further up you go, the less rooms there are. There are eighteen floors in total. Floor one has eighteen doors, floor two has seventeen and so on."

Rin blinked several times before shrugging.

It was a little overwhelming, being thrown from Assia - the human realm, with humans and Demons that were potentially dangerous - to Gehenna - where he was a prince, and demons are nice, and _everything is freaking red._

Rin smiled up at Satan, who smiled back. He supposed that this new life wasn't too horrible.

Satan dragged Rin to one door, which had a pentagram engraved into it. Satan placed his hand on it and said something in what Rin assumed was Abyssal, and the door opened up.

"These doors work like the elevators do on the surface. I'll teach you numbers in Abyssal first, considering it's what you'll need to know the most of. Repeat; _Daee."_

"Dahhh" Rin said, attempting to repeat the odd sound.

"No, _Daee_" Satan corrected

"Deeeeh"

Satan sighed. "_Dah_"

"Dah," Rin repeated.

"Eee."

"Eee."

"_Daee_."

"Day."

"_Daee"_

"D-d-da-de-dah" Rin knew he was saying it wrong, but he couldn't seem to make the word come out right.

"_Daee."_ Satan said again, unsure why the language was so hard for him to grasp.

"_Dahe"_

Satan sighed again. "Close enough. It means open; if you use it on any door, in Assia or Gehenna, it will open, even if it's locked. I'd appreciate it if you don't use it on anything but the elevators here, however."

Rin smiled and nodded, happy that he had made his father proud.

_"Nae"_ Satan said, causing the door to open again. "The doors work instantly. We are now on level nine."

"Cool!" Rin said, leaning over the stone rail to look at the lake below. "I wanna go swimming later!" He said, smiling up at Satan again.

Satan rolled his eyes and dragged Rin off to one of the doors. It was labeled with an odd little left-half-circle symbol. "This is door three. Your room. Room six will be a playroom, door seven a library, and room nine a classroom for you. I'll have to contact Amaimon to get some tutors for you. He is the King of Earth, and people are smarter in the Earth Isle for whatever reason." Satan rolled his eyes.

"Cool!" Rin said. "_Daee._" He pronounced perfectly, the door opening at his command.

XxXxX

**So, yeah.**

**Review, s'il vous plait. (please)**


	4. And he had a small red strand

**Hmmm. Should I bore you with hilarious antics about both of their upbringings, or should I do some quick-shots so you get the gist?**

**Perhaps in this story, I'll do quick flashes, and in a seperate, I'll go into full detail?**

**For now, Rin and Yukio start training.**

**XxXxX**

Satan looked at Rin in shock.

Was he faking the whole time?

Of course he was.

_Daee _indeed.

Rin ran around his large room in childish glee.

"This is sooo coool!" He yelled, running in circles before summersaulting over his large bed. He tumbled straight off of it, though, and continued rolling with his momentum.

The room was easily twice the size of the Sanctuary, with a huuuge California King-sized bed smack dab in the center.

He could learn to live with the red color of everything, if _this_ was where he'd spend most of his days.

It was so cool!

Satan smiled, watching his son.

His _son._

Satan weighed his options - he needed to tell his son what he was training him for, sooner or later.

_Tell him now, and make him lose that happy look on his face, or tell him later, and make him mad at me for not telling him sooner?_ Satan wondered, watching as the child did a hand-stand on his bed. He immediately toppled over, though, as the bed was too soft.

Satan sighed and decided to get this over with.

"Hey, kiddo, come over here and sit down, okay?" He said, sitting in the chair to the small desk in the child's room.

Rin looked over breifly and smiled before grabbing several pillows off of his bed. He arranged them in a small throne for himself infront of Satan's chair. "Story tiiiime!" He said, smiling.

Satan sighed. "Here goes nothing."

XxXxX

Long ago, back when the world was new, there was a man. This man was floating in a realm that was not Assia, and not Gehenna, but rather, a place in between.

He floated like this for who knows how long, until he got bored. He desired land - and land he recieved. He noticed a small planet off on the distance, so he 'swam' over to it. Once he was on the planet, he found that he could not leave it.

The small planet was covered in dark 'sand', as he called it, and he soon grew bored of the landscape. He decided that he wanted to make 'trees' and 'flowers', whatever those were.

As he wished it, he found that it was created, if a little small.

XxXxX

Rin interrupted his story. "Who was this man?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"This man called himself God." Satan told the boy, before launching back into his story.

XxXxX

He created a small haven for his creations on the very top of his little planet, and he surrounded it with 'walls.' He created all sorts of 'animals' for this land that he called Eden, but he found it lacking. Eventually, he decided to create creatures like him - things he called 'Humans'. However, the first creation was odd, and deformed. It had two sharp fangs, and too-pointy ears. He had claws, instead of hands, and a tail. Disgusted with the creation, God shipped it off into the Sand, thinking that it would die without food.

However, he was wrong. The creature that called itsself a 'Demon' found that it, too, could create. So, he launched himself off of the planet, named Assia, and he created his own land to play with.

XxXxX

Rin smiled and clapped here, saying, "That's Gehenna!"

Satan smiled. "That's right. The demon had created Gehenna."

XxXxX

Eventually, the Demon wanted more than this - so, as God was creating Humans, the Demon decided he wanted to make more of his own kind.

He made many different forms, humanoid, animal-like and all, but he cast none of them out of his land. His land was expanded, much like the Humans expanded.

Eventually, though, his creations got hungry, and no one but he could create. No one but he had the blue flames.

They needed to eat something, and the only things that could grow were in Assia. So, he made the first portal.

His demons went, and they fed. This was known to the humans as the fall of the Assyrian empire.

While the First was down in Assia, he fell in love with a human, and he impregnated her during his breif trip.

Unfortunately, he had to return, and he left her behind.

The world he returned to had started to crumble. Hoping to save it, he asked Gehenna itsself what to do, and she said, 'You alone can not control me. You need to assign helpers - eight others. One of Earth, one of Rot. One of Time, and one of Fire. One of Insects, one of Water, and one of Spirits. Finally, you need one of Light.'

Frantic, the First assigned who he hoped would fufil the spots to their posts. Many of them died immediately, however, as Gehenna rejected them. They were not good enough.

XxXxX

"That's horrible!" Rin said, interrupting. "How could she do such a thing?"

"She had to do what was right, Rin." Satan said.

XxXxX

Eventually, he managed to get people that she accepted into place.

However, his son had turned two by this point. He knew he needed to raise this child as his heir, in case something happened to him.

As such, he sent down the King of Earth to get his son.

His son's name was Satan.

XxXxX

"It's you!" Rin yelled, smiling.

"It's me." Satan said, smiling sadly.

XxXxX

He raised Satan to be his heir, and to be a good one at that. His son was stronger than he, but even his son could not create as he could.

On Satan's eighteenth human birthday, The First grew sick and died.

In anger, Satan reigned hell upon Assia at his first chance - known to the Humans as the Crusades.

Exorcists were created.

XxXxX

"Do you regret it?" Rin asked.

Satan thought back all of those years ago, to when he had first attacked humans. Sure, he had felt _bad_ about it... but regret was a stretch.

XxXxX

Years passed, and Satan made sure that three Assia gates were open at all times. No demon could open them, except him.

The Kings of Light and Earth had both died, their heirs dying with their mother. No mother to a demon child survives childbirth. Satan's children with a higher-mid-level demon had taken those thrones - Lucifer for Light, and Amaimon for Earth.

Eventually, he went down to Assia to see how things had changed. There, he attempted to find a suitable body to walk around and see the world in. He had never forgiven Assia for causing his father's death - he had blamed all humans for one's act.

While there, he came across one who was immune to the Blue flames - a girl named Yuri.

XxXxX

"Is Yuri mommy?" Rin asked, his eyes lit in excitement.

"Yes, she is. She was truly beautiful, too." He said, smiling sadly.

"Wait a minute," Rin said, his tiny brain thinking hard. "You said Demons that fell in love with humans died. Did you not love my mommy?"

Satan shook his head. "I loved her more than anything, Rin."

Rin thought some more, before looking up again, teary-eyed. "Does that mean you'll die when I turn eighteen?" He asked, dreading the answer.

Satan nodded, grim.

Rin jumped from his throne to hug his father. "I'll become the very best, like no one ever was." He promised.

They sat like that for who knows how long, before Satan spoke up again. "It was a dream of ours, that there would be a world where Humans and Demons could live in harmony." He admitted, petting Rin's hair.

Rin pulled back. "Then next time you and I can _both_ go through a portal, I'll make that dream come true! I'll join the Exorcists and show them that not all demons are bad!" He vowed this to both God and to the First, and he knew it would come true.

"That's not until your fifteenth birthday nears, Rin!"

"That's okay! I'll wait!" He said, with as much determination as a four-year-old could have.

Satan smiled. "I don't doubt that you will, Rin. Now, I think that's enough for tonight." Satan stood up, shaking out his leg; it had fallen asleep. "Good night, Rin." he said, as he left the boy's room.

XxXxX

Yukio and Rin both swore then; they would train hard, and they would be victorious.

XxXxX

_**Hades**_** that was long! I had created the Demon story the day previous. **


	5. Twisted around a longer lock His sword

**Without further Adieu, I give you chapter Five!**

**XxXxX**

"Say it with me." The demon said, leaning over the Prince's desk. "_Ah"_

"Ah." Rin repeated, smiling.

"My."

"My."

"Mon."

"Mon."

"Amaimon."

"Amaimon!" Rin repeated, smiling.

The green-haired demon leaned back, a smug smirk on his face. "That wasn't so hard. Now, on page three ninety-four-"

XxXxX

"Amaimon, I'm bored." Rin said, setting his book down. "I hate reading."

Amaimon looked at his youngest brother for a minute before smiling. "So do I. What do you want to do instead?"

"We can play Tag!" He said, the book forgotten.

"...Tag?" Amaimon asked, confusion on his face. "What's that?"

Rin looked shocked. "You don't know what _tag _is?"Amaimon shook his head. "Well, how it works, is I go up to you and I poke you. You have been Tagged. You then count to ten and chase after me to poke me."

Amaimon scratched his head. "Is that it?" He asked.

"Yes! It's super fun! See? TAG!" Rin said, poking Amaimon before getting up and running.

Amaimon counted to ten quickly before chasing after his brother.

Such fun human games.

XxXxX

Yukio wasn't sure anymore - he still wanted to be an exorcist, of course, but _why?_ Was his brother truly a monster?

What if... What if he was brainwashed?

He brought the issue up with Father, who just shrugged.

That settled it; Rin had been brainwashed! Mind Controlled! He wasn't in Gehenna on his own accord! Yukio needed to be a good Exorcist to take down Satan for kidnapping his brother like that!

XxXxX

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM?" Satan yelled at his second-youngest, who cowered in fear.

"We were playing _Tag_ and I couldn't find him, and-"

"What the _Hell_ is Tag? You were supposed to be teaching him about Gehenna." Satan leaned back and sighed.

"Well, yeah, I know I was supposed to be teaching him, but we both got really bored, really! And so I thought, a little break couldn't hurt!"

Satan stood up and snapped at a guard. "Find him. Search through all of Ring Center - You," He pointed to another guard. "Search the palace. You three; search homes. _You will find him_." He commanded. The five quickly scrambled to Obey. "Amaimon, you will search Ring Earth. I... I will go inform the other seven that he is missing. And where is your brother?"

"Anuie? He's been in Assiah for the past two hundred years, Father." Amaimon said, temporarily forgetting that Mephisto had wanted it a secret.

A vein on Satan's forehead bulged.

"Nevermind Samael. He can stay in Assiah. He doesn't even have a Ring." Satan rushed out of the door, running to inform the other six that Rin was missing.

XxXxX

Rin had, indeed, left the palace. The whole area of Gehenna was simply _amazing_. He could see other islands like this off in the distance, Amaimon had called them _rings._ Fantastic! He could see many, _many_ interconnecting bridges that lead between the Rings and smaller islands scattered about.

Rin went to the elevator and said _eighteen_ in Abyssal (Tae-Ute). It dropped him off on the bottom level, and he walked straight to the nearest bridge. There were demons of all sort who were walking about, and most that saw him paused to bow or to say 'hi' to him.

It was amazing! He quickly got onto one of the _fast lanes_ and he said _Sau_ (six). The bridge launched him at hyper speeds; he could see snippets of things passing. Finally, he was ejected out where he wanted to be. Ring Rot.

Rin stumbled out of the fast lane and fell on his face.

Above him, he heard laughter. "Little Prince," Said the voice, "You can't truly be that clumsy, can you?" Rin felt a hand on his coat collar, lifting him to his feet.

"Thank you, Astaroth!" Rin said, smiling at the King of Rot. "I just wanted to visit and test out my Abyssal. I think it's pretty good, but Amaimon doesn't have patience for these things."

Astaroth laughed. "Of course he doesn't. Come, Rin. I will get you some Tea."

"Yaay!"

XxXxX

"ASTAROTH!" Satan said, bursting through the door. "Have you seen-?" His question was stopped right in its tracks, as he saw Rin.

Rin was _sipping TEA _of all things.

Rin smiled at Satan. "Hi, Daddy!"

Satan let out a breath of relief and he ran to hug his son. "Don't do that again," He said. "Don't leave without telling me where you're going!"

Rin had to carefully position his arms so that Satan wouldn't get Gehenna's Finest Tea all over him. "Sorry, Daddy. I just wanted to visit Uncle Star."

Rin could see Astaroth's eyebrow raise at his nickname.

"Next time you want to visit _Uncle Star,"_ He said the name mockingly. "Then _inform me_." He tapped Rin's nose scoldingly before smiling and hugging Rin again. "I swear, you're worse than Mephisto, always running off."

"But Daddy," Rin said, setting his tea down. "Isn't Mephisto... _old?_"

Both men stared at Rin for a moment before laughing. "Yes, Rin," Satan said after a minute. "Mephisto is Old."

Rin scrunched up his nose. "Then why am I worse than Mephisto?"

"Mephisto ran away to Assiah for two hundred years before I noticed!"

"Doesn't that just make you a bad parent?" Astaroth said, drinking more tea.

"Shush, you."

XxXxX

No. No, Rin was definately a Monster.

_Definately _a monster.

Yukio redoubled his efforts at this conclusion.

Shiro just sighed. _He'll never make up his mind._

XxXxX

**So, yeah.**


	6. Was sheathed across his back, and

**When boredom strikes...**

**XxXxX**

"Rin?" Amaimon asked, seeing the young seven-year-old's tired look. "Are you alright?"

"Mmh?" Rin hummed, picking his head up off of the table. "It's.." He yawned. "Lollipops... thirty seven... _Darae mun st... straeu."_ Rin slipped into demonic as he fell to sleep.

"Ah, geez." Amaimon said, running his hand through his hair. "I can't teach you anything when you're this tired, Rin! What did you even do last night, anyways?"

He didn't expect the now-comatose child to answer him.

Amaimon left a note for Rin before heading to the Chamber room. Satan was sitting there, reading a paper. He looked up when the doors closed.

"Yes, Amaimon? Is there something wrong with Rin?" He asked, setting the paper down.

"I want to know why Rin is so tired." Satan looked confused for a minute, before forming his mouth in a silent 'ah!'

"I hired him a new tutor to train him with his sword. She must have run him down too far. I'll speak to her about it."

"_Her?_ Who exactly did you hire?" He asked. Believe it or not, there _were_ people who disliked Amaimon in Gehenna.

"Alex Arachnae. I believe you know her, Yes?" He said, leaning back and picking his paper up again.

"ALEX? YOU HIRED ALEX FOR THIS JOB!?" Amaimon shouted, surprise carved into his face. "How could you leave that... that... that _beast_ to train Rin!?"

Satan lowered his paper slightly, an eyebrow raised. "Beast? I doubt she'd like to hear that. Someone has gotten soft."

"_Soft? _No, not _soft._ I just don't want that _Bitch_ to teach my baby brother!"

"You swore." Satan said, surprised. "You never swear."

"She makes me do that! I don't want her to hurt Rin!" He said, stressed out.

Satan sighed. "I'll speak to her about it, but you know she's the best we have."

XxXxX

Rin had woken up not long after Amaimon left. He stretched and stood. _Now where did Amaimon go?_ he wondered, stepping out of the door. He wandered down the hall and stepped in the Elevator.

All mundane things are on floor eight.

_"Ute._" Rin said, and the elevator did as he commanded. He worked his way to the kitchen. He had taught himself to cook for his fifth birthday - there was no true night or day in Gehenna, and, as such, there was no true day or month here, either. Only the middle-upper demons and higher had an internal clock to tell the time on Gehenna. It had taken him some time to fully access his, and so, he knew when his birthday was.

Anyways, Rin made his way to the kitchen and cooked himself some lunch. He had been late to Amaimon's class at noon, so he had no time to eat breakfast.

XxXxX

Alex P. Arachnae was a Spider Mistress; the second-in-command of Ring Insects. As such, she had control of spiders and was usually very agile. This is what made her such a great Sword master.

Her spiders were situated throughout all of Gehenna (and Assiah), so she knew what went on. Rin was currently in the Kitchen.

She did not get hungry very quickly, but this was one of those times. She decided to try whatever it was that Rin had decided to cook up.

She slipped into the Kitchen undetected and sat at the barstool over by the doorway.

Rin only noticed her once lunch was on the stove. "Alex!" He exclaimed, his face breaking into a smile. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I was hungry, so I decided to come see what was cooking. Where's broccoli?" She asked, refering to Amaimon.

"Amai is talking to Daddy, I think. I had thought that shrimp pasta sounded good. Is that fine with you?" He glanced at Alex's smile before turning his attention back to his food.

"Did Amaimon grab the necessary ingredients for you? You couldn't have grabbed those _here!_"

Rin smiled as he stirred. "I actually bribed Egyn to get them for me," He said referring to the King of Water. "Of course, these are _his_ domain."

Alex nodded, before looking upward. "Amaimon in three." She said, looking back down.

Sure enough, Amaimon entered the room. "Rin! What's cooking, little br-" He froze at the sight of Alex. "_Spider bitch._" He hissed at her, sitting on the other side of the bar.

"_Broccoli bastard._" She hissed back.

Rin cleared his throat.

Both looked sheepish.

"Why do you even hate eachother, anyways?" He asked after a few minutes of tense silence as he served.

"He keeps killing my spiders!"

"She stole my candy!" The two said in unison, pointing accusing fingers at the other.

Rin blinked before going to sit between the two. "That's it?"

"_IT IS A BIG DEAL!" _the two said, before glancing at the other and turning their head away.

Rin rolled his eyes and ate his food.

XxXxX

"Demon. He's a demon. No, he's brainwashed. Demon - Washed - Demon - Control - Monster - Wash." Yukio said this very quickly as he paced back and forth. "I want to be a Dragoon with a side of Doctor." He decided finally. Shiro sighed as he wrote that down on the boy's sheet.

He idly wondered if Satan was having similar problems.

XxXxX

"He probably hates you." Satan said, attempting to distract the young boy.

"And if he does, I'll convince him otherwise." Rin said, his concentration undeterred.

"What if he hurts you?"

"I'll convince him that I can be hurt, just like a human. _Damn!_" He said, as Alex's blade sliced through his skin.

"Alex, gently." He reprimanded. "Don't want to hurt him too badly, do you?"

"He needs to learn! _Fromage!_" She nearly shouted, as Rin's training sword slashed through her shoulder. "And pain is a great teacher."

"If you say so." Satan said, leaning back. "So, Rin, what do you think Yukio is doing right now?"

"Training, _ow_, just like I am!" Rin said, ignoring the pain in his hand.

XxXxX

"To the left, you four-eyed chicken!" Shura said, hitting him on the head. "I said the LEFT!"

"I'M TRYING!" Yukio shouted, aiming his gun again.

"TRY HARDER!"

XxXxX

**Teehee. I just adore writing about Yukio's indecision. **

**So what should he decide on? Monster or Brainwashed?**


	7. His eyes had a red pupil He seemed

**I need to stop procrastinating.**

**Also, I have a **_**hilarious**_** idea for a later chapter.**

**XxXxX**

It was nearing Rin's ninth birthday that he left the Center without permission again.

And it was more than likely the last.

He had wanted to go and visit one of the Islands - the Pumpkin Island. It was said that inside of the gianormus pumpkin resting on the island was some sort of resturaunt, and Rin wanted to see what they sold. However, he didn't even make it to the Fast Lane before a hand reached out and snatched him.

His world went black.

XxXxX

He dreamed of his sword training with Alex. She was forced to pin up her long, _long_ black hair like silk so that it didn't get in her way while fighting, and she constantly complained. She also complained about having to teach Rin with a Mythril sword instead of Kurikara - Mythril was the only metal that could be found in Gehenna, and could only be smelted with Demonfire.

Satan had wanted Rin to be better trained with his powers before they unleashed all of it.

XxXxX

When Rin awoke, he noticed the gold colour of his surroundings. He was shocked; he hadn't seen such a colour in several years.

Rin also noticed that he was sitting in some sort of golden throne made out of gold coins; the same sort that was making up the walls and floors. Surrounding him were hundreds upon hundreds of Goblins.

They had a horrible tendency to hoard Gold, Rin recalled. This gold - all of it must be from Assiah.

As soon as one of the goblins realized he was awake, the goblin started jumping. They all followed the lead of the first, and after all had followed, the floor was shaking.

The large mythril doors on the other side of the... _area_ opened.

In walked a boy, not much older than Rin. He had a dark red tail like the goblins did, and his skin was similarly coloured.

"_The Young Prince is awake!" _He exclaimed in Abyssal, jumping with the goblins. "_Start the preparations!_" He commanded. Several goblins followed his command.

"_What is going on?_" Rin asked, starting to stand.

"_My Prince, sit! Sit, my Prince!" _The boy commanded. Warily, Rin followed his command and he sunk back to the chair. "_I am _Auei_ and I am the leader of the _Guira!_ We were founded to make sure you have a smooth ascent to the throne, free of any resistance, my Prince! But we want you to be happy, too, my Prince! That means we need to unlock your powers!"_

"_Wait, what?_" Rin asked, starting to stand back up. "_No, no, I'm fine right now without them - Dad said he'd unlock them on my tenth birthday!"_ Auei pushed Rin back into the chair again.

One of the goblins said something and Auei smiled. "_Come, my Prince!" _He said, grabbing Rin's hand. Rin attempted unsuccessfully to release Auei's grip on his hand, but it was in vain. Auei dragged Rin from the large room made of gold out of the Mythril doors. From there, they were in some sort of cave system made of stone. Rin attempted to understand where they were headed, in case he needed to make his way back. Left, right, right, straight, left, straight - he lost track after they made the seventeenth right.

Finally, they arrived in a room much like the first one he awoke in, but instead of gold, it was diamond.

_Do they have nothing better to do but to go back and forth from Assiah and steal stuff? _Rin wondered. Auei sat Rin down with much force in the center of the room - the floor was made of Mythril and had a chalk Exorcist Circle of some sort drawn on it. Rin attempted to stand again once he had been shoved down, but he found that he couldn't move.

_Oh no._

Auei smiled sweetly at Rin before forcing Rin to lie down.

Around him, the goblins circled and chanted something in their own little language.

The circle around him glowed red for a time before lightening to a soft blue. As soon as the color stopped changing, red lightning errupted from no real place.

Rin felt as if his blood was on fire. Rin tried to scream, but he still couldn't move. However, the longer he sat there in the circle, the easier he felt it was to move. The fire in his veins seemed to only get worse, though, as he was electrocuted.

Finally, he felt so much pain that it released the force holding him down. An ear-shattering scream pierced through the air as Rin was lit on blue fire.

"_My Prince is Free!"_ Exclaimed Auei. Rin had noticed that they stopped chanting, but the fire remained. "_All Hail Prince Rin!"_ The goblins repeated his segment in their language.

The electricity stopped as soon as the sentence left Auei's lips.

Rin was exhausted. His throat ached from his screams, and he didn't really _want_ to stand up.

XxXxX

A loud _snap_ broke Satan out of his work. He looked up and over to Kurikara, which was hanging off of a nail in his throne room.

The sword was engulfed in flames.

This shouldn't happen.

_No._

Satan stood and walked over to the sword quickly. He unsheathed it, despite his better judgement, and he noticed that the blade was nearly cracked.

_NO!_

He dropped the sword.

_Where is Rin?_

XxXxX

Rin awoke again in the Gold room. He noticed that most of the gold around him was melted.

He was still on fire.

Rin sat up and closed his eyes again - He needed to follow his steps and he needed to _concentrate._ Carefully and calmly, Rin reigned in his blue flames like Satan had taught him to. It was harder than he remembered being, but he assumed that he now had full power.

_Crazy Cult indeed._ Rin thought, remembering Satan tell him about these sorts of things.

Rin stood shakily; there were no goblins around. Rin took about four steps before falling again - he was still weak from his... Awakening? Electrocution?

Carefully, Rin walked over to the door and he opened it.

How was he supposed to get out?

Rin thought for a minute while thinking, before he had an idea.

His flames have _limitless_ possibilities.

_So I wonder..._

Rin took a moment to picture exactly what he wanted to happen.

"_Au."_ (up) He said. Immediately, the flames surrounded him freely and they shot him up and out of the base. His flames deposited him when he could see the sky. He recognized the Ring as Ring Center - he was below his home the whole time.

Shakily, Rin stood again and walked his way slowly to the center of whatever level he was on. He allowed the flames to comfort him freely as he walked - no demon bothered their Prince.

Rin finally got into the center of the level and he got into the lift. _"Ni._" He said, and it shot him up to level one. He then left that lift and got into the one opposite of it. _"Wu aes daiur?_" (Where is dad?) Rin asked. His flames whispered back to him in Abyssal - it was a neat trick that Rin knew and Satan didn't.

"_Lau Sau"_ It whispered back. Level six - got it.

"_Sau_." Rin commanded of the elevator.

It quickly deposited him on level six. Rin then quickly stumbled to the Study.

He tripped as the door opened.

Satan immediately stood up when he noticed it was Rin opening his door.

He looked different - his ears - _oh. Of course._

Satan quickly picked up Rin off of the floor and he sat on the couch, Rin in his lap.

"_I missed you._" Rin whispered, tears escaping.

His teeth and ears were pointier. He had a tail. His flames were more responive, and there was a red streak in his hair now.

They _tortured _him to get their result.

For such a helpful group, they can be _such_ a thorn in his side.

As he sat there and pet Rin's hair, he thought that he can call the search off in the morning.

XxXxX

**Teehee, Fluff.**

**Like? Rin's powers are now unlocked and he's super awesome now. Don't worry about Kurikara being broken. **

**;D**


	8. happy, too, which couldn't be right

Age thirteen was an important age for both Okumura twins.

On Yukio's thirteenth birthday, he would become a full Exorcist.

Then, he can knock Rin out of his brainwashing.

On Rin's thirteenth birthday, he was undergoing his Right of Passage for the throne. None of his older brothers had passed it - it was why they weren't in line for the throne.

Rin, however; Rin was determined to pass.

Except he couldn't exactly _prepare_ for it if Satan didn't tell him what was going on.

All he said was that _he_ had succeeded, so there was no reason that Rin couldn't too.

A lot of help _that_ is!

"_Seru!_" Rin swore, kicking a rock. "How am I supposed to be the best if I can't prepare for this?" He wondered aloud, not expecting an answer.

"Just relax." He heard Amaimon say out of the blue. Rin swore again and quickly spun to face his half brother. "I had to go through it, too. The worst that could happen is that you get a funny scar and you get assigned to one of the Rings." He said around a lollipop.

It didn't help Rin ease up.

Finally, midnight arrived, according to his internal clock. Rin entered his Father's throne room.

Satan smiled at Rin before he got up. Rin waited for Satan before walking out the door again, following his father to wherever they were going to.

They got off of the elevator on the first floor. Rin had been here before, of course, to go swimming - but he had never before seen the door that was there now. Magic, perhaps?

Satan stopped outisde of the Mythril door that had appeared.

Satan sighed, resting his hand on the door. "Rin," He said after a minute. "Just.. be careful in there, okay?" He glanced down at Rin, who had a determined look on his face. "I can't see you again until this time tomorrow."

Rin nodded, having expected it. "_A tayu e." _He said, right before he walked through the door. He didn't open the door - he walked through it.

Satan blinked twice. _A tayu e. _I love you. _Dammit, Gehenna, he better come out of this alive._

XxXxX

Inside of the room, all was dark. There was no light, but that was no issue.

Rin breathed in and out slowly, conjuring his flames.

Except - he couldn't conjure them.

Rin's breathing picked up as he panicked - no, _no. I'll be fine._ He thought to himself. Rin eased himself to the supposed center of the room, and he sat down.

He attempted to slow his rapid heartbeat as he came up with possibilities of what this was about.

Perhaps he had to sit here in this small room without panicking for twenty-four hours?

That was unlikely.

What was it that Amai said? _"The worst that could happen is that you get a funny scar."_

Scar from _what?_ That was the question.

Rin sat there, imagining possibilities.

Perhaps there will be flames? Amai doesn't have the Blue Fire, so it'd hurt him... right?

What if there's an assassin here, watching him? Waiting to strike?

Rin tensed. _What if..?_

Rin sat there for what felt like an hour, imagining the worst possibilities.

Finally, his legs fell asleep, so he stood up to shake it off.

The ceiling had shrunk.

_Oh, nonononono._

Rin pushed up against the ceiling, surprised to find that it did, indeed move.

Rin's breathing started to slow as he wondered - can the rest of the room move, too?

Rin walked over to the wall, once the ceiling was at a suitable height. He then leaned against the wall.

Only to fall over, as the wall moved.

_What is going on?_

Rin felt for the other side of the circular room - it, too, had moved.

What?

Rin rested his hands on the wall before pushing it with all of his might.

The room didn't seem to have a space limit, he noticed, and after what seemed like five feet, there was a small light built into the floor.

He blinked the spots out of his eyes, trying to readjust to the room he was in.

The walls were coloured green - funny. If it hadn't been for Amaimon's hair, he would have forgotten about _green._

The ceiling had risen with the room, and there seemed to be four caverns that fed off into the room about ten feet up.

Water was filling in from three of them.

_Ai Hau?_ Rn thought, wondering the purpose of this.

He could let the water fill up the room so he could swim up into the caverns, or he could close them again. Hm.

Close them and he loses his light.

... Couldn't he just lower the ceiling?

Yeah, right. How was he going to reach up that far?

_Think, Rin! Think!_

Rin searched the pockets of his cloak. He didn't have his sword on him and his flames didn't work. He had a Ten _Dau_ piece, but he didn't think he could buy anything with it.

So what now?

Out of options, Rin decided to push the wall out further. It seemed that the wall with the cavern dissapeared as he pushed it as well. There were light checkpoints the further he pushed.

Eventually, the sharp _Diiiing_ of a metal object falling resonated through the cavern. Rin stopped pushing the wall and he walked through the thin layer of water to get the object.

It was some sort of mythril or diamond headband. Or somthing. Rin glanced around the room again. The cave openings had dissapeared - it looked like they had been some sort of maze, and his prize was somewhere in there. The ceiling hadn't lifted any.

There were several spider demons on the ceiling as well. Was he supposed to fight them?

One of the spiders seemed to have noticed that Rin was looking at it, so it fell to the ground, all menacing.

Rin quickly picked up the headring and he ran to evade the spiders coming at him this way and that.

What good was this band? Rin wondered. It had to have _some_ purpose...

Rin quickly slammed the band on his head as he dove to avoid a spider web.

The band immediately lit into his blue flames - was _this_ the secret to Father's crown?

Rin laughed as he conjured up more of his flames.

Alex be damned - he was _killing_ those things.

However, just as he sent a fireball at the spiders, he was ejected from the room.

What?

The wall spit him out right where the door had been and into the hotsprings.

Rin quickly forced himself to surface and he spat out water. His crown was still lit. Cool!

Rin made his way out of the water, conjuring his flames to dry himself.

He stretched his muscles, earning a few well-deserved _pops_ as he made his way back up to his Father's study.

Was that it?

_That_ was his right of passage?

How lame.

XxXxX

Satan glanced up when the door opened. Amai and Lucifer both had decided to hang out at Circle Center for the day, awaiting their little brother's return.

However, they had _not_ been expecting him to return _that_ early!

Amai was the first to react, sweeping the child into a hug.

"_Mun bae euir!_" Amaimon said. "You're not hurt? No injuries? Are you alright? How did you get it so quickly!?" Amaimon said this all very fast.

"_Euir!" _Rin said, waving his hands behind Amai in a very distinct '_Help me I can't breathe'_ fashion. "I'm fine! It was pretty easy! I just kept pushing the wall until the headband crown thing fell from the maze."

Amai pulled away from Rin and all three looked at him in a _That was it?_ way.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Satan said, hugging his son next. "So, my older sons, I present to you the official heir to the Ring Center. The official Prince of Gehenna!"

Both clapped.

Rin beamed happily.

XxXxX

**So, yeah.**

**The thing with the maze is that the water is supposed to fill it up to the point where you can climb in to the maze by hour 20. It takes 18 hours for it to get above the challenger's shoulder, then it rapidly fills the last 2 hours. They then have 4 hours to search for the crown. If they can get to the crown and put it on with no ill affects, they win. If they are knocked unconcious or fall asleep before then, they're ejected from the challenge and lose.**

**Of course, Amaimon and Mephisto both took it at a much **_**much **_**older age than either Lucy or Rin. **

**If you're curious, Amai found the crown, but it hurt him. It's why he wears his hair so funny ;D**

**Meph did not find it - he did not even bother to try. He sat in the little room until his 24 hours were up. **

**Lucifer did not find the crown, but he did search for it. He was ejected at hour 23:52, after battling with the spiders for a while. **

**Satan, of course, found the crown, but he did not put it on until after he was ejected, and the First **_**kindly**_** stated that he should have put it on.**

**So, yeah. I tried.**


	9. He had spent most of his time there

**This story will be updated on Wednesdays around 1-2ish Eastern US time, provided I start writing at noon like my alarm is set for. **

**That being said, the ideas for this chapter took me forever to come up with; simply a snag. No more, no less. **

**I could have sworn that I had written a Chapter 9 for this, but whatever.**

**XxXxX**

It was a very excited fifteen year old that bound into Satan's bedroom on the morning of October 31st, hopping on the bed, jumping and jumping and jumping.

Satan rolled over and pulled the blankets higher.

"Come _on_ dad, we have to go_ now now now!_" He yelled, now rolling over him. "If we don't leave now, we'll be late and then we'll never get there which is _totally_ uncool!"

"Riiiin," Satan groaned, sitting up. "What time is it even? The portal doesn't open until sundown." Rin stopped bouncing.

"Oh." He said, pouting slightly. "Hm. Well, I just have twelve hours to pack everything up now don't I!"

Satan opened his eye lazily, the other closed under his palm. "You haven't even packed yet, Rin?" Rin shook his head with a large grin on his face. "Does anyone even know that we're arriving or do you plan on showing up unannounced? Why don't you go bother Amaimon and have him take you to the Assiah or make him let you borrow his phone to call Shiro or something. _Anything_ other than bugging me at this godawful hour."

Rin shook his head again. "Both Shiro and Samael both know that I'm arriving and Samael knows my goals and stuff. He already cleared it with the Knights of the True Cross and everything! I just have to go and visit them and be investigated before they let me loose in their classes or whatever."

Satan flopped back onto his pillows. "And how long have you had this planned for?"

Rin paused and counted for a little bit. "Around six years, give or take."

Satan face-palmed. "Go... Go bother Amaimon or something, Rin."

"'kay!" Rin hopped off of Satan's bed and he bounded out of the room to the beat of a song in his head.

XxXxX

"Father, are you _sure_ he has to come here?" Yukio asked, weary of the answer. Yes, he supposed he had been looking forward to this day where he saw Rin again and convinced him of the evils of demons, but... so soon? "It's not that I'm changing my mind or anything-" He gave a huff of annoyance when he saw Shiro and most of the others in the room roll their eyes. "I am _not_ changing my mind, but his cause seems a bit... impossible, and childish. He's likely to cause more damage here on Assiah than make any actual progress, plus there's the fact that my goal, either of them, depending on my mood - both of them are little... impossible, too. I'm just... anxious, I guess." He poured his feelings out to them. God, he was so _stupid._ How could he possibly change Rin's brainwashed mind _or_ kill him?

He jumped when Shiro's hand smacked into his shoulder. "Yukio, I think you worry too much! Just do what feels natural, alright?" He smiled, making Yukio smile a little bit, too.

XxXxX

**Time: 3:00 pm**

"Come _ooooooon!_ Come _on_ come _on_ come _on!_ When is it time to go? Why can't the sun set quicker? Dad, I'm _boooooooooored!_" Rin whined, sitting on the couch upside down.

Satan didn't even glance at Rin. "Go bother Amaimon."

"I_ caaaaaaan't!_" He complained. "Mai is over in America for the afternoon and I don't wanna make him come back! He rarely gets a day off!"

That time, Satan looked over at Rin incrediously. "You two have done _nothing _but slack off during your lessons."

"Which is why I can't bother him now! I'd be rude of me!" He said, making wild movements with his arms.

"Then go bother Alex, or something."

"I _caaaaaaaan't!_"

XxXxX

"Why do I have to clean? Why do we even have to clean at all?" Yukio asked, cracking his back from his position on the floor. "He lives in Gehenna for crying out loud. It's probably a million times worse in their _best_ place than our _worst_ one."

"Yukio, stop complaining!" Shiro said, smiling from the chair. "You want to make a good impression on Rin, don't you?"

He sighed and soaked his rag in the bucket again. "I guess not."

"'Atta boy." Shiro appraised, leaning back in his chair with the news paper.

XxXxX

**Time: 7:00 pm**

"Can we go yet can we _goooo?_" Rin said, pacing around Satan's office desk and chair.

"What time is it there and how high is the sun?" He asked, clicking his pen.

"Seven in the evening and just peeking from beyond the horizon, clouds are gathered above and it's about to snow!"

Satan sighed and put the pen down, glad that this long wait was _finally_ over. "Yes, we can go now." He said, standing up.

"Yay!" Rin yelled, running down the hall, to his room, where he swooped up his suitcase and shoved his shoes on. His flame crown would have gone out were they regular flames with the speed he was going.

They quickly - at Rin's insistance - made their way to the nearest Gehenna Gate, where they quickly made their way through.

_That's it, _Satan decided. _No more road trips._

XxXxX

**Alright, I could have sworn when I planned out this chapter that it was going to actually get to their meeting. **

**Huh. That was my snag, you know. When Rin and Yukio meet and stuff, but apparently I could have done this chapter without having that all set out. **

**Anyways, If I don't bother updating this weekend, I will have it Next Wednesday. That's how this update schedule works - I update regularly on the weekdays and sometimes whenever the hell I feel like it otherwise. :::;)**


	10. being tortured beyond belief, and I know

**So I make an announcement that I'll update on a schedule and then I don't follow it. Yeah, I'm a horrible person.**

**However, I have an excuse! haHA! I'm on vacation in Texas! It's awesome!**

**To the Texan readers: I like your state. This is a nice state.**

**XxXxX**

Rin smiled as they passed the wards of the monestary. However, his smile dropped as he stopped by the door, his hand poised to knock.

"What if he doesn't like me?" Rin asked, afraid of the answer. Of course _now_ is when he starts having doubts.

"Then he doesn't." Satan replied. "So what?"

"But I want him to like me, dad."

"Then make him like you."

"But I don't want him to do something he doesn't want to do."

"Then don't." Satan shrugged.

Rin bashed his head on the door, and he knocked twice more.

Shiro answered the door with a huge smile at Rin.

"Rin! Oh look at how much you've grown!" He said, hugging Rin. Over his shoulder, Shiro shot Satan a dirty look.

_I hate you_, Shiro mouthed. _Yukio won't shut up!_

_You're welcome!_ Satan mouthed back, making a heart with his hands.

Shiro rolled his eyes, pulling away from Rin and laughing. "I've missed you, Rin!" He said, putting arm around Rin and leading him inside. Satan, of course, invited himself it. "Dinner should be done soonish, but I assure you that it will be horrible!" They laughed.

"I can cook, you know! I might be able to salvage it." Rin said, smiling. "Maybe."

Shiro let go of Rin's shouler and he sat down at the head of the table. Satan took the seat opposite of him and Rin went to go salvage their dinner.

"Okay, so let me put this down here now so it's on the table." Satan said, leaning forward. "Rin has decided to complete mine and Yuri's dream of making peace between Assiah and Gehenna." He held up his hand when he saw Shiro's mouth open. "I know, it's a bit of a hard goal. It's a _really_ hard goal, so shut up." Shiro's mouth snapped shut. "Good. Now, he won't cause trouble. I know he won't because it's not like him to willingly do anything. However, he's extremely prideful. If someone does aggrevate him to the point of a strife, he won't use his demonic powers at all. Alex trained him to not use them unless he has to. At least, I hope she did. That's what I paid her to do but the ending results is questionable with her." He rolled his eyes. "Long story short, he'll be here until the halloween before his eighteenth birthday. He shouldn't cause trouble but if he does, I'll know. Coal Tars are notorious gossips."

Shiro's eyebrows raised. "How are they gossips? Only the upper-mid level demons can speak."

"Oh hell no." Satan said. "All demons speak abyssal and all understand english. If you speak abyssal, you'll know that the white static noise they make is actually speech between them. It's really annoying but it's useful at times."

"Do you think Rin would teach me Abyssal? That'd be useful!"

Satan shrugged, leaning back. "Abyssal is hard to teach to anyone without the knack for it. Yukio should be able to learn without problem but you'd be a different story. Sorry."

Shiro rolled his eyes.

XxXxX

Rin opened the door to where he knew the kitchen was. There was a little red timer on the stove that claimed fifteen minutes left. He raised his eyebrow and his eyes scanned the room. Sitting there at a small table, unaware of his entrance, was Yukio.

"Hey." He said softly, closing the door behind him. Yukio's head snapped over to him and their eyes locked; dark blue with soft brown.

"Rin." Yukio breathed, his eyes wide with surprise. He stood from his chair and rushed over to Rin and they locked in a hug.

They were even in height, as was expected. Yukio still had those three stupid moles on his face, which was dissapointing. Rin had hoped that they dissapeared.

As soon as they pulled apart, Yukio slapped him.

Rin put his hand to the slapped cheek and he glared angrily at Yukio. "What the hell was that for!?" He asked, the blue crown of flames increasing a little in his fury.

"You left without me! I could have helped protect you from the demons had you taken me with you!" He said, crossing his arms.

"I did want to take you with me!" Rin nearly shouted. "I came here to have a good time and honestly, I'm feeling so attacked right now!"*

"You liar! You never messaged me to tell me that you were fine or anything! You never told me that you were alive and I doubt you even gave me a second thought! I bet they even brainwashed you to forget me!" Yukio turned away from Rin.

"Excuse me!?" Rin said, clutching his hands into fists. "I _did_ message you! I _did _send you gifts when I could, they did _not_ brainwash me and I most definately thought of you nearly every day! I came back to Assiah to make it better for _both _of us _and_ my people!"

Yukio spun back at Rin. "_Your people!?_ Rin, your _people_ aren't people! They're monsters!"

"_Monsters!? _So I'm a monster then?"

"I- that's not what I said!"

"That is so what you said!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

Rin reached over and smacked the back of his head, going to take the food from the oven. "Is too." The food - steak - wasn't burnt yet, but it was getting there. Rin took a little piece and taste-tested it. It needed much more spice! "_Taeoki_" He said aloud, a puff of blue flame creating the bottle of spice for him. He put a little, tiny bit of the spice on each steak, because it was a strong spice. He tossed the bottle up when he was done and it dissapeared, and he continued to play with the spices like that for a little bit.

Yukio watched in dumb amazement. That was not the control and work of someone who had been brainwashed, it was not that of a monster. It was simply... Rin.

It was going to be a long day.

XxXxX

**There you go! Again, sorry for the lateness!**

***I'm sorry about the meme line; I had to. **


	11. that he was tortured for a fact It was

**Procrastinating seems to be my forte this summer (just like it was last summer and the one before that.)**

**Ah, lets see.. where did I leave off..?**

XxXxX

Yukio followed Rin out of the kitchen in awe. There were eight plates to be carried, and six of them were being supported by the blue flames.

The other exorcists seemed very uncomfortable at the table with _Satan_, but they dealed with it.

Satan and Shiro sat at opposite ends of the table, Rin to Satan's right and Yukio opposite of him. To be honest, sitting so close to Satan was giving Yukio the creeps.

He wasn't sure... what to think. Does he believe that Satan brainwashed Rin, when he seems so normal? Or does he believe Rin to be a monster - which can't be right, either. So _what?_

And what was even up with that crown of theirs? It was so weird and a dead giveaway that they weren't normal.

Rin placed the plates down, the two he was carrying went to Yukio and Shiro, as a show of good manners or something.

The flames deposited the other plates lightly where they were supposed to go. Rin then sat down, and dinner awkwardly started.

Where to begin making conversation with an estranged twin he hadn't seen for eleven years?

"So, um, Rin." He awkwardly began. "How long are you staying here in Assiah?" _Please say not long. Please say forever. Ah, fuck, I'm so messed up._

He swallowed his bite of steak before answering. "I should be here until the Halloween before our eighteenth birthday. I might go back to Gehenna once or twice to get something I forgot-" Yukio saw Satan's glare to Rin, but Rin seemed to not have noticed it. "-or perhaps to annoy _mun euir_ or, ya know, whatever." He shrugged.

"Wait, what was that word you said?" Shiro asked

"What?"

"_Man air_ or whatever."

"Oh! _Mun euir_ means 'my brother' in abyssal. I didn't realize I slipped into it, sorry." He went to cut up his steak for a second but he froze. His face lit up in realization. He looked up at Yukio and grinned. "Say, _mun bae euir, a wumira sae e comi unaed a. Tun daiur samae vi elaerbur." (Say, my little brother, I wonder if you can understand me. Your father smells of elderberries.) _Satan covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

"What!" Yukio exclaimed, dropping his knife and fork. "Shiro does _not_ smell of _elderberries!_ What even does that mean!?"

Rin and Satan burst into laughter in unison.

"It - _haha _\- it's a reference to - oh, god," Rin seemed to be having trouble breathing through his laughter. "It's from _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_." It took another six minutes for Satan and Rin to stop laughing. "It is nice to know that you understand Abyssal though."

"I- what?" Yukio was caught off guard. The words - they had sounded like english **(technically Japanese) **to him!

"Welcome to the Weirdo club, _bae euir._" Rin said, smiling.

Yukio buried his face in his hands.

XxXxX

Dinner passed much more casually from there; Rin seemed to just... _fit in._

Once everone was done eating, Rin took the plates back to the kitchen. Yukio sighed. This meeting was not going at all how he thought it would. He imagined Rin to be... oh, more _evil_ or... or _something!_ Anything other than what he is - he's just... Rin.

Yukio hit his head on the table.

Had he ever considered that _Just Rin_ is all he should be seeing his brother as? No, he hadn't, because Yukio had pretty much set himself in the mindset that Gehenna would change him to be something worse than he is.

Is he going to accept that?

Hell no. There _must _be something he's missing. Rin must be hiding his true nature - yes, that must be it!

"Yukio, are you alright?" Shiro asked, glancing over. Yukio picked his head up from the table and he nodded.

"I'm fine. I guess I.. I just need to sort out some things." He got up and went to the kitchen, deciding to do the dishes. It would keep him from interacting with - Rin. Duh. How could he forget that Rin was in the kitchen still?

He was looking at their spices, actually.

"No wonder you had horrible food, like, always, _bae euir._" He said, as if sensing the older boy's presence. "You have horrible spices in here."

"Well it's not my fault." Yukio said, shrugging. "I don't do the shopping, nor do I know the proper use of any real spice." He started the water going for the dishes.

"We need to fix that! No one should go as long as you have without knowing how to cook good food." He rolled his eyes. "Aren't you joining Samael's academy in a few days? What are you going to do for food then?"

"Samael?" Yukio asked, putting soap in the water. "I thought the academy was run by Johann Faust the fifth?"

Rin dropped the bottle he was holding. "Is _that_ what he's going by this decade? _God_ that's such a stupid name. No, Faust is also known as Mephisto Pheles, which is what The Society knows him as. His real name is Samael, as in the King of Time." He picked the bottle back up and put it back in the cabinet.

Yukio stopped the water, rolled his sleeves up and dropped the plates in. "Why would he be in Assiah then, if he's the King of Time? Why would he run a _school_ of all things?"

Rin shrugged. "Samael is really, really old. He must have gotten bored in Gehenna, so he decided to go mess with some people in Assiah. He's been here for 200 years, of course, so whatever he's trying to accomplish, he sure is taking his time. Plus he doesn't have his own Ring in Gehenna, so he doesn't exactly have priorities and duties." Rin closed the door to the cupboard and he relaxed by Yukio, his hand resting on the edge of the sink. After a few minutes of silence, Yukio spoke up again.

"So, Rin, about your time in Gehenna..."

"Yes?"

"Did they.. hurt you at all?"

"What? No - Yukio, why would you think that? They haven't hurt me at all."

"Stop _lying_ to me!" Yukio exclaimed. "They did _something_ to you in Gehenna - they _must _have! No one goes to Gehenna unscathed!" Yukio slammed the knife in his hand down without realizing it, slicing open Rin's hand.

"_Seru!_" Rin swore, shaking his hand. "Yukio, that _hurt!_" The blood from his hand splashed onto the floor, opening a Gehenna Gate. "_SERU."_

"Rin... I-"

A very large hand reached out of the gate.


	12. clearly writen across Rin's face He

**Okay so I start school on Thursday and my dad, his friend and I are taking a trip to Texas (again) to pick up the friend's trailer and I'm writing while we're on our way :)**

**To one of the guest reviewers: Sorry not sorry.**

**Chapter warning, extreme gore**

**XxXxX**

Out from the Gehenna gate appeared a very, very large sickly green demon.

Rin and Yukio both backed up, watching as the demon climbed his way out of the gate.

"_Shit."_ Rin breathed, grabbing Yukio and dragging him out of the kitchen.

The large demon followed behind them, breaking through the door. The two ran from the kitchen, through the dining room and into the larger church-like area of the monestary, the demon following behind them.

"_I command you to stop!"_ Rin yelled at the demon, in abyssal, of course.

"_You are not my master,"_ the demon replied with a booming voice, rattling things that were loose in the room. "_I have no master._" He slammed his arm into some of the pews, knocking wood everywhere.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rin saw Shiro and Satan running into the room.

Quickly, dodging a blow, he considered his options. Neither he nor Yukio had a weapon, and he doubted Shiro or Satan had one either. He and Satan had the Flames, and his sword was back in the kitchen.

So how to kill this demon?

He dodged another swipe from the demon and he summoned his flames. He would need the most control over his flames. He closed his eyes, focusing.

He didn't notice Satan leaving the room to close the gate.

Rin felt for his _center. _He, of course, found it quickly due to years of training, but once he had it, he knew the flames were in his _total_ control.

He controled them to surround him, to make him indestructable as he went to face the demon.

The demon turned to him and laughed. "_You think your flames can stop me?"_

And, he realized, as much as he hated to admit it, there were demons that could resist the flames.

He solemnly hoped that this was not one of them.

With the most speed he could possibly summon, he rushed at the demon and he channeled his flames into making him stronger. He jumped in the air, even with the demon's face, and he punched the demon.

The demon barely moved, but he did let out a blood-curdling screech of pain.

Somehow he had missed Shiro leaving to grab a weapon as well, and he had missed the other exorcists entering the room. He, of course, noticed them when they started firing at the demon.

Yukio - and what was Yukio doing?

Yukio, too, now had a weapon.

The demon had raised his arms to block the bullets, which seemed to be doing nothing. Whatever this demon was made of, it was sure tough.

Finally, the demon seemed to have had enough of the bullets and he reached down to pick up the nearest demon slayer.

It happened to be Shiro.

_No._

Rin, and the others, watched in abject horror as the demon ripped him apart.

_NO!_

He numbly caught the sword that Satan tossed to him and he drew the sword, summoning the full power of his flames in his anger.

_SOME BITCH IS GONNA DIE._

_AND IT'S DEFINATELY GONNA BE THIS BITCH._

XxXxX

The exorcists and Yukio stopped shooting as they saw Rin go into overtime anger mode. If Yukio could make a name for this mode, it would be Grimdark.

He felt numb.

What had happened?

Was that - was that Shrio's _stomache_ on the - no. No!

He refused to think about the red soaking the room.

Perhaps... it was just paint?

Yes. They decided to paint the room red. Bright, bright, blood red and the paint was still we-

_Yeah, this isn't working. _

XxXxX

Rin rushed at the demon, allowing his anger to cloud his senses. He rushed the demon, flames raging. He raised his sword and swung, it's blue-flame-enhanced edge managing to slice a long, _long_ gash along it's chest. A thick petrolium-like substance came out of the wound, and the demon's shriek of pain informed Rin that the demon could in fact be cut.

With a wickedly evil grin, he turned his eyes to finding another spot to work on taking the demon down, all while easily dodging the blows.

The demon seemed to be leaving the others alone, as it was Rin who had caused it the most damage, but Rin didn't care.

He scanned the beast for a weak spot. Ah, there it is.

Rin dodged the next blow by running up the wall and turning at the last second to launch off of the wall. Kurikara, to increase aerodynamics and stabbing power, was held in front of him.

All within a fraction of a second, his sword was punched through the demon's left eye.

In effect, Rin kind of launched over the demon's head and smacked into the wall behind it with enough force to severly bend it.

The demon dissolved into dust, and the sword - now covered in tar - fell to the ground with a sickening shtwuck.

He had remembered those years ago, when Shiro was his father.

He had actually really liked the old man, which might explain why he had done a fuckin' pirouette off of the handle there.

In a rush of exhaustion, Rin's rage left him. He numbly picked up his sword, ignoring the _horribly disgusting _feeling of sludge between his fingers, he stabbed the sword through the floorboards, now slick with both Shiro's blood and the demon's... _essence._

For the first time since his crowning, Rin cried.

He cried for the father-figure he should have been nicer to. He cried for how much Yukio's going to hate him - after all, it is his fault.

It's always his fault.


	13. had scars all across his face, and that

**Okay, considering **_**a certain someone **_**(cough cough SORA, HEY, I'M REFERRING TO YOU) was concerned about my wellbeing, I decided to update for you guys :)**

**I really do Apologize about the lack of updates, though. I've been working on Lumox: Pride 'cause it's close to completion and I have to lay down my plans for this story and make it follow canon (the anime, anyways) which requires me to actually **_**rewatch the anime**_** and I haven't gotten around to it. Thus I'm using what little Manga I have to put down plans and I'm ranting.**

**XxXxX**

Satan had left not long after that, considering the hateful looks coming his way, even though he still had an hour left in Assiah.

Apparently, he had called Samael to come pick the two up, because he showed up not long after. Still in shock, Yukio had numbly went up to his room to collect his stuff that he was taking to True Cross with him, while Rin already had his stuff packed.

Samael saw his little brother sitting on the floor in front of his sword and he sighed.

Sitting beside him, Mephisto layed a hand on his shoulder. _"Little brother, you really shouldn't worry. This wasn't your fault." _He said in abyssal. It felt weird on his tongue, considering how long it had been since he had last used it.

"_Yes it was! If I- if I had just been _stronger_! If I had more control over the demon I- Shiro-..."_

Mephisto sighed again. "_Some demons resist the controls of others, and I _know_ that you know this, considering how you treat daddy dearest."_

_"I don't actively try to kill him!"_ Rin said, looking up from his sword in surprise.

"_But do you?" _

"_I-_" Rin paused. "_I guess I do, don't I."_ It wasn't a question. And now he felt worse than he did before. _Thanks, Anuie._

"Come on, Rin," He said in english. "Go get cleaned up."

Rin stood up and ruffled his hair. _"Carataeu"_ he said, and the flames cleaned him off, as well as the floor below him. Everything was still slick with tar and blood.

Yukio came downstairs with his suitcase and freshly showered not long after.

Right before they left the Monestary, Rin had an idea. He turned around and focused on the entire room, whispering _"Carataeu._"

The room was now blood-and-tar free.

It was the least that he could do for them.

XxXxX

True Cross Academy was truly something to behold. Sneaky little bastard designed it like Gehenna.

As such, he told this to the Coal Tars, who were greatly amused by it, and quickly spread word about how much of a sneakly little bastard Samael was.

Coal Tars are _such_ gossips.

Samael was amused.

He was even more amused when he lead the two to their new dorms, over in the old boys' dorm building. He _claimed_ that the True Cross Society didn't want Rin left unwatched, and who better to watch him than Yukio? But they hadn't actually said that, and Rin and Yukio both knew it.

Yukio and Rin glanced at eachother, and they silently agreed that they'd take different rooms on opposite sides of the building.

Samael then told Rin that he'd have to hide his tail, ears and fangs during regular classes, but he could show them in the Exorcist class because it's not like they didn't know who he was.

Rin raised an eyebrow at him and focused on himself, saying "_Desgura"_, and the above concerns were disguised.

Yukio scoffed at the casual use of the flames. How _stupid. _

They were given one week to settle in before classes started, and Rin was given a master key.

Samael didn't stop to think about the Pranks that could be pulled. The places that he could go.

Well damn.

XxXxX

As soon as Yukio and Rin got into the building, they looked at eachother and said their room location.

"Top left," Rin said at the same time that Yukio said "Bottom right."

They smiled, before the bad memory fresh in their mind crashed down and they scowled at the other.

Yukio was still conflicted. If Rin were a monster, he would have let the demon kill all of them. Yet at the same time, Shiro died because of Rin. Rin summoned a Demon that they hadn't seen before, which meant that they didn't have enough time to figure out which scripture would have worked on it.

_Shiro died because of Rin._

He wasn't sure what to think.

They went to their respective room and unpacked.

XxXxX

Their week in mourning was mostly spent pranking each other - Rin would take Yukio's bar of soap, Yukio would rearrange Rin's carefully-placed Manga. Rin would shuffle his notes for the class he was gonna teach, and Yukio would flip his bedsheets inside out.

It helped to keep their mind off of the things that had happened, and, all things considered, they really had needed to wind down and get truly settled in.

Rin had gotten bored so he used the flames to clean the entire building's insides, so any of the rooms was habitable, even if they only used the two.

Yukio had discovered one day why Rin wanted to take the top floor of the building as he was coming back from setting up his classroom.

The top floor has access to the roof (and if it didn't, Rin certainly made it so). Rin taught himself how to make his flames into a hoverboard.

XxXxX


	14. Devil may cry' look had left his face

Rin's first day of classes approached quickly and, had he not set an alarm, he would have missed his morning classes.

At six o'clock dead even, the coal tars by his bed all screamed in unison. When talking or alone, the coal tars often spoke in a whisper, because they didn't need to speak any louder. Upon request, they could scream if they wanted to.

Rin awoke by jumping up and out of bed, slamming his head on the bedside table and falling onto the floor.

It woke him up.

And Yukio.

He'd never been to human school before. If it was anything like his classes with Alex or Amaimon, it was looking to be rather entertaining. Though, technically, he didn't study with Amaimon as much as he did play games to keep them both entertained, and with Alex he was swordfighting most of the time, but regardless, lessons were fun.

First period was gym. He didn't know what the hell a _gym_ was but it had to be entertaining, right? It's school! School is fun.

XxXxX

School _was not fun._

What the hell is an X?

What's a _Co-sign?_

Quadratic equations?

And why did Gym have so many _rules?_ Here's the ball there's the goal.

Wait no you can't do that. Or that. Or that.

You can't deck this other guy in the face to get the ball, Rin!

_No Rin!_ this and _No Rin! _that.

What the hell.

Why couldn't he do what he wanted? Why did everyone seem to know the rules except for him?

It was unfair.

However, it was time for cram school, so he didn't have to worry about it. Being an exorcist? So cool.

XxXxX

Rin met up with Samael after classes so that he could receive his key. In all actuality, he didn't need it. It was just for show. Any key he obtained could be used to go anywhere for looks because all he probably had to do was tell the key to take him somewhere and it would.

In theory.

Rin actually happened to like walking so it's not like he minded taking the long way around.

However, because he was running out of time to get to cram school, he didn't have time to hunt down Samael.

"_Takia mun ar Anuie"_ Take me to Samael.

Immediately, he was engulfed in the flames and he disappeared.

He fell to the floor when he emerged, for the travelling way of the flames was unstable and disorienting. He fell into Samael who crashed onto the floor with him.

"At least when I teleport I have the decency to not crash into those I'm trying to visit with," he said, helping Rin up.

"It's not stable but it works!" Rin replied, brushing himself off. "And that's all that matters to me!"

Samael smiled at Rin before continuing with the plot. "You came here to receive your key, yes?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Samael reached into his pocket and extracted a gleaming gold key.

"It's the same one I gave to Amaimon," he explained, "so it will take you anywhere you desire to go." He began to hand it to Rin before he took it back, pausing. "I trust you to be mature with this key, Rin. If I hear that you're doing things you shouldn't be, I _will_ take it back. Am I understood?"

"Loud and clear, _euir_." Rin replied. "I will not use this key to walk into any girl's bathroom, changing room, or any male's bathroom or changing room. I will not use it to steal food out of your personal stores and I will not use it whenever I feel like it, but only when I need to."

Samael handed the key over. "You'd do well to remember your promise. Now hurry up, cram school started three minutes ago."

"SAMAEL-!" He began to shout, only to realize that the elder brother had already vanished. Quickly, he ran to the nearest door and tried his key out. Thinking hard about the Cram School building, he opened the door.

He rather liked the design, he decided. Red and black checkered floors, stained glass design doors. It was super cool.

His good mood was ruined when he walked into the room. Everyone snapped their head up and stared at him.

"Rin, how nice of you to join us," Yukio said. "You will be taking the front middle seat." Rin nodded and took his seat, dropping his sword into the seat beside him.

"Now, as I was saying," He continued, ignoring the hateful stares that the other classmates were shooting at Rin. "There are three levels of demons." He paused to draw a chart on the board. "Low," he marked the leftmost section of the chart as 'low', "Medium," he did the same to the middle column, "and High," he marked the third column. "Every demon you learn about or fight in the future will be marked as such. It would be in your best interest to understand the difference. Generally, low level demons are mostly harmless and often cannot hurt you-"

"That's not right."

Yukio froze. "Excuse me?"

"That's not right," Rin repeated. "It's more complex than three levels."

Tense silence rang through the room.

"Well," Yukio said, his voice stern and tight. "If you think that you know what should be taught, you come up here and teach."

Rin hesitated, before he complied. After all, if Yukio hadn't wanted him to teach, then why would he have asked?

"So, uh," Rin said, pausing at the blackboard with the chalk in his hand. "First off, this chart isn't right." He took the three-column chart and cut it into nine pieces by adding rows to it. Then, off to the right of the 9x9 square, he added two more columns. He labeled the rows low-medium-high, making the top left box low-low, the one to the right of that low-medium and so on. He then labeled the two side columns lesser and greater.

"There are actually nine classifications of demons and two other classifications. _Daiur_ didn't teach them to me as 'other classifications', but rather just kind of _there_, but, uh, they exist anyways. So. Lower Demons," he tapped the 'low' row, "are demons that have to possess something in order to cross over to Assiah."

"Would that make your daddy a lower demon?" said a classmate in the back, before he turned to his friends and laughed.

Rin was rattled for perhaps a second before he responded. "Well, no. I haven't gotten there yet. _Daiur_'s part of his own sort of class. So anyways, medium demons," he tapped on the 'medium' row, "are ones that aren't hostile to humans without provocation. High ones," he tapped on the 'high' column, "are ones that are openly hostile to humans, like Ghouls. The further right you go on the chart," he gestured, "the more dangerous to a human. So, for example, ghouls. Ghouls can be in Assiah without needing to possess anything, so they're not a low level. They're openly hostile, so they're high. Ghouls are pretty dangerous so they'd be a high-high demon." He paused to write 'ghoul' in the high-high box. "These last two columns classify humanoid demons. Non-kings are 'lesser' and kings are 'greater'. Satan, me, Samael_,_ Amaimon, Egyn, Astaroth, Beelzebub, Iblis, Azazel and Lucifer." He paused to write everyone's names in the 'greater' column.

XxXxX

Yukio was shocked, as he sat and watched his brother explain. This system of sorting was short of genius. He couldn't count the number of times he went unprepared into a fight because what he was told was 'low level' was still incredibly dangerous to him and those around him. A new system, like this, would help. Immensely.

"Now, Coal Tars are probably one of the _least _threatening demons - oh shut up you!" Could he - talk to them? Rin batted away a coal tar from him. "Anyways, they're generally classified as a low level because of how non-threatening they are -" he paused to swish the same coal tar away from him. "But the fact of the matter is that they can manifest themselves in Assiah without needing to possess anything, which automatically makes them a medium-level demon. Medium-low, most certainly, but medium nonetheless." He paused to swish the coal tar once again out of his face.

"... questions?"

No one spoke up.

"Thank you, Rin, for demonstrating your way of classification. I'll bring it up to Mephisto to see what we can do to get this approved. It's much more thorough than what we have now."

Rin smiled at him proudly, the praise stroking his ego. He retook his seat.

He missed the glares that his classmates then glared at him.

"As I was saying. A Temptaint is what allows us to see the demons-"


	15. And yet, in total, he still seemed happy

The apartment complex was silent.

_Too_ silent.

Rin knew something was up, so he had to check on Yukio.

_"Takia mun ar Yukio_" Take me to Yukio. With a flash of blue, he found himself deposited on top of his younger brother.

"I swear, we're not related. How old are you again?" Yukio said, sighing and pushing Rin off of him.

"I'm your age, you know that," Rin responded, not quite catching the sarcasm. Despite having lived and breathed sarcasm the first few years of his life, some of the most basic things seemed to still escape him. "And you're my brother. Why wouldn't we be related?"

Yukio pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again.

"So, uh, where are we?" Rin asked, leaning over the side of the railing overlooking the entire city. "Top of the school?"

"Not quite," Yukio said, walking away. Rin rushed to go catch up with him, his mind still comparing the city to his previous home in the center of Gehenna. "We're at the supplier. The Moriyama family has been faithful to the academy for generations, working to supply the exorcists with the supplies that they need when they need it. I happen to be out of holy water and I need some aloe, as well. I used all of mine up the - ah - the last time I tried to cook while you were... out."

Yeah, he was still in denial, but denial unlike the last type. At this point, he just point-blank refused to admit that Rin had left for Gehenna. No, he was simply... out. And he was always out. That's it, Rin was simply out of the house a lot and they didn't happen to see each other very often. Yes, that must be it.

His brother wasn't the _revered and favored child of Satan himself,_ nope nope nope.

Not at all.

"Rin, I need you to not touch anything." He said pointedly as he went to open the door to the supply shop. "In fact, why don't you - just - just wait out here."

He didn't want his brother getting hurt by anything potentially harmful to demons while in the supply shop.

What's that? Why would Yukio be determined not to allow his _demon_ brother into an _anti demon supply shop_ if his brother was _in fact not a demon_?

C-Cause shut up that's why.

Rin huffed. What was he supposed to do now?

He lazily paced in front of the store for a minute or two, but that was boring.

Then he paced less lazily in a bigger radius. And slowly the bigger radius became the entire length of the catwalk. Er, rather, the bridge?

Regardless, each pace back and forth past a particular gate gave him chills. What was it about that gate that gave him chills?

Pace number three thousand, five hundred and two, he was tired of getting chills by the gate and not knowing why. _And Yukio still wasn't done with whatever he was doing._ Seriously! It was a _little_ holy water and some Aloe. If he weren't so.. erm... allergic... to the holy water, he could _get the stuff_ faster than Yukio was buying it! And it was _easy _to procure aloe at will!

_So just go through the door_.

What's that, demented mind of mine? Rin asked himself. Go through the door? Okay.

With a smile, Rin stopped pacing in front of the gate.

A girl was repotting a plant on the other side, presumably another Moriyama, if Yukio was correct.

"Hey!" Rin called through the gate. The girl looked up, and smiled. She waved at him. "Can I come through?" She nodded with a 'come in' wave. Rin reached forth to open the gate and he felt a spark between his fingers and the gate, much like an electrical current. _"Shit,_" he whispered under his breath, before his flames engulfed him protectively and the ward on the gate blew up in his face. "I- ah- I can explain?" Rin began, stepping back from the fallen gate.

She began to scream. "Demon!"

"I'm not a- okay well techn- er- shit- I- Miss Moriyama- I'm not harmful I-"

In the time he was stuttering to find an excuse, Yukio and who he presumed to be the girl's mother ran out to find her screaming and Rin at the gate.

_So much for that beautiful not-a-demon_ _fantasy I had going there,_ Yukio sighed to himself.

"Miss Moriyama, I assure you, he may be -" he gulped, trying to force his newfound denial down - "He may be a demon, but I assure you, he won't harm you _or I'll kill him myself._" This was sent with a glare at Rin, who was standing innocently, covered in blue hellflames, by the broken gate.

Miss Moriyama stopped crying, but she didn't seem any less frightened.

"Rin, the blue flames, turn them off." Startled, as if he hadn't realized that they were still on, he ordered the flames off. "Miss Moriyama, this is my twin brother Rin."

"But - you're not!-"

"I'm not a-" another pause and a gulp as he once again forced himself to say it, "I'm not a demon like he is, no. The power is only part of him, but he won't hurt you with it, _right, Rin?_" He glared again.

"Nope, no hurting from me. I'm just a big cuddly lawnmower or weedwacker who's ten times more efficient." He shrugged. "Or, ya know, demon wrangler of the unwranglable or repotter or something. I just like to help."

She nodded. "Well then, get working! There are weeds in those three boxes," she paused to point them out, "and this entire middle area needs to be mowed. I'll continue repotting these plants."

"Yukio," said the older woman - her mother? "While you're here, can you look at her legs?"

"Sure," he agreed, kneeling by the still-sitting girl, and pulling her kimono up to view her legs. He hummed in thought before pulling her kimono back down and frowning. "Looks like the work of a demon. Shiemi, have you talked to any demons recently?" She glanced fearfully again back at Rin, who was curiously thinking about the roots in her skin - under her skin? - and not noticing the look sent her way. "Other than that dork," he clarified.

"No, I don't think - " Shiemi began before fainting. Rin snapped out of his thought-induced stupor, to once again re-examine her legs.

"I know this! It's a _demon_!"

"Really, Rin, well done. A plus for effort." Yukio rolled his eyes, pulling his pistol from his belt. "The demon is in this garden, I know he is."

"How can you tell?" Rin asked, frowning again. "Demons like Amai's don't usually stick around, their element is kind of... everywhere."

"Can you not feel that sheer _presence_ of demon?" He glanced at Rin. "Er, well, maybe not. Regardless, we have to find it and exorcise it before it hurts anyone else."

"Well," Rin said, thoughtfully. "I guess there's only one way to find out where he's hiding." Rin layed both hands upon the fallen girl's legs, covered in roots, and focused. "_Carataeu,"_ he encanted, thinking of the roots and focusing his flames on _cleaning_ the impurity from her body. An angry roar sounded from all around them and the girl - Yukio called her Shiemi? - was hoisted up by a massive flower.

Was this_ it?_ Honestly, he was expecting a _challenge._

Rin rolled his eyes. "Really, now? This is the best you can do?" Rin taunted the flower.

"The best I can do?" The flower responded, taking rise to the bait. "I can do so much better than this little weak girl, but we all must start somewhere, am I right, _my Prince?_"

With a tisk, Rin allowed his flames to engulf him. "If you know who I am, then you should know to not _mess with me_, you overgrown weed!"

With a roar, the flower lashed it's thorny spreads at him. Rin backflipped out of the way towards Yukio and held his hand out. "Yukio, _summoning paper!_ Now!" Without thinking, Yukio tossed him a paper, his hand not releasing it's hold on his pistol.

Rin bit his thumb and smeared the paper. "_Amaimon!_" He called, throwing the paper down.

A flash of blue flames and a shine of green light and Amaimon was cleaning his nails, relaxing on the grass. "Really, brother, if you wanted me to visit you could have just called me."

"This _weed_ has a friend of mine and she isn't going to listen to me."

Amaimon finally looked up and frowned. "I didn't raise my children to behave like this."

"Yeah, so, spank her, or something." Rin demanded, frowning at his older brother. "Just keep Shiemi safe!"

"Whatever you say, lil bro." Amaimon walked up to the flower. "_Kneel,_" He demanded, putting his nail file back into his pocket.

"I shall not kneel for you!"

Rin stepped up beside Amaimon, linking his hand with his older brothers. With an old tapping system they had created in a fit of boredom five years ago, Rin tapped out _catch her_. A slight nod from Amaimon gave Rin the okay he needed to go through with his plan. Rin rushed forward and set the plant on fire, blue fire, blazing hot and bright. In pain, the plant released Shiemi and the fire extinguished itself. Amai took a step or two forward and caught Shiemi as she fell from the plant, slowly coming to, now that the flower's hold was released.

The flower shrunk to it's original small size, and Rin uprooted it.

Shiemi was finally awake not moments later, and Rin showed her the demon flower.

Her first reaction was to recoil from it, further into Amaimon's arms.

Her second action was to recoil from that and to be dropped on the ground.

"If it's any consolation, dear," the flower demon said, "your soul is decious." And with that, the flower demon released the flower from it's grasp and the flower went limp in Rin's hand.

Rin went over to Amaimon, high fived him and tore the paper, allowed Amaimon to return to whatever he was doing before.

Clearing his throat to rid the silence, Rin smiled. "So, can I interest anybody in lunch? I'll cook!"

XxXxX

**A dearest thanks to all of the very quick reviews! After so long, I didn't think that I'd get such a massive welcome!**

**Thanks shout outs to:**

**Juubi no Ookami no Kami, YokaiAngel, Vampireharry the 2, and in particular, ScarletSaphire, who you have to thank for this second chapter. I love you guys, seriously! :)**


	16. When I asked him what happened

Ryuji Suguro was sick and tired of Rin, he finally decided, after watching Yukio repremand Rin for dozing for the fifth time. He's a slacker, he's lazy, he doesn't deserve to be in the class, and that's all _before_ you calculated in who his father is!

He'd had enough.

So when the teacher conveniently had to leave them alone in the _perfectly good room _(albeit with a massive demon frog chained below them), Bon decided to have his way and get that _demon loving monstrosity_ out of his academy.

"Rin!" The demon turned to him, a questioning look on his face. "Why do you attend this academy? Clearly nobody wants you here!" Most of the students around him were shocked, but nodded nonetheless.

"I-" He started, but Bon interrupted him before he could push out a lame excuse.

"In fact, it's most of our goals to rid _your kind_ from the entire world, so we can live in peace. My personal goal is to rid the world of _your father_, and should you take his mantle, _you._"

Kamiki began to laugh. "You want to kill Satan, oh please. Settle for something a little more _attainable_, would you?"

Bon shot her an angry look. He wouldn't usually be this forthright with his accusations but, _hey_, this is the Son of Satan here. He can be _bold_ if he wants, he can be forthright if he wants.

Who was he kidding. This confidence was totally faked. He was terrified. Terrified of what the future might bring, terrified of _Rin_, the son of _Satan_, who was...

Who was probably going to report back his ambition to his father and get him _killed early_ before he _becomes a threat_. Shit.

Rin tried desparately not to tear up. If only killing his father was impossible. And at the rate Bon was progressing, Rin would do it first. Unthankful for that _wonderful reminder_ of his _loving father's impending doom at his hands_, Rin shook his head. "He's really not that bad of a guy, once you get to know hi-"

"_Not that bad?_" Bon said, incredulous. "He murdered my entire temple, he made my life a _living hell_! Go ahead in tell me again that he's _not that bad_."

Rin frowned. "The Blue Night was-"

"A terrible thing," Konekomaru interrupted. "Don't try to justify it, _Satan-spawn, _thousands of people died because of your _daddy._"

Rin's eyes lit in fury, his crown reacting to his mood and lighting up. "Fine. If you won't listen to what I have to say, then _fight me._" He pulled his sword out. "Maybe if I _Beat some SENSE_ into you, you'll listen to what I have to say!"

Bon didn't really like the look of him with the sword in his hand. "You've probably had _training_ with that, Rin. So here's a counter. We race around the center of the room, being chased by the frog. The first to either be hurt by it or to get tired loses and is correct."

Rin glanced at the frog. "If I win, you will _all_ listen to every damn word I have to say."

Bon nodded. "Fine."

Rin nodded. "You're on." They slid down to the center, the frog immediately perking up. "Three-"

The frog sat up, licking the air. "Two-"

He took a single bounce in their direction. "One-"

The frog roared. "GO!"

It was a furious race, both in outrunning the frog and in outrunning the other. Within minutes, they could feel their limbs burning and they were heaving for air, but they would _not give up_.

Bon tripped.

Rin quickly skidded to a stop, the Frog bounding right up next to Bon. He perked his head. Rin quickly doubled back stand between the frog and Bon, managing to interrupt the Frog's tongue just in time before he hurt - or killed - Bon. He could feel thousands of small cuts on his face and chest being made as he was licked, and he doubled over in pain. Bon behind him struggled to get to his feet. His words were not, 'thank you,' but rather, "You got hurt by the frog, so I win."

Rin let out a small groan, both of pain and frustration. The frog above him continued to sniff Rin, who was bleeding rather profusely.

"_F-faemo,_" he managed to whisper, his flames engulfing him protectively, healing his wounds as fast as they had been made. Bon had already joined his friends, rejoycing at his victory.

A tear slipped from his eyes, but he quickly wiped it away. He didn't need to be doing any of that right now.

He was fine.

Really, he didn't mind being friendless and being reminded of his father's incoming death _because of him_, and being licked by a giant frog demon that caused thousands of small papercuts to lace his body and then not being helped by his co-competetor or the rest of the class, leaving him to deal with his own blood and pain. No. He didn't mind at all.

At least Bon was safe.

It wasn't until much later at night, up on the roof of the silent apartment building that he allowed himself to cry.

It wasn't _his fault_ that his dad conducted the Blue Night, he was simply trying to save his wife, he wasn't thinking.

It wasn't _his_ fault that his dad was who he was,

It wasn't _HIS_ fault that nobody liked him and nobody wanted to be his friend.

It wasn't his fault that he was who _he_ was. He didn't ask to be born the son of Satan.

He didn't _ask_ to be ostracized by his fellow peers, to be friendless, to be made fun of.

He didn't ask for Yukio to take up a dorm on the entire opposite side of the building so that not even the noises of his twin sleeping in the same room could comfort him.

He didn't ask for _any_ of it.

He missed Gehenna.

He missed his friends, his family there.

Maybe his goal was impossible, more impossible than Bon's in Kamiki's eyes.

Mabe there was no way for the humans and the demons to co-exist peacefully, after all.

He furiously rubbed the tears off of his face.

Maybe he was here for nothing after all.

He managed to sleep on top of the roof, but it wasn't very restful.


End file.
